Reflecting on my learning over the course of this semester I have come to realise that ICT in schools is as much about the people as it is about the equipment. Having reliable and up to date equipment is important for effective technology use, however, appropriate and relevant professional development of staff, effective leadership of key stakeholders, involvement of the wider community, and of course our students, are integral to effective ICT use in schools.
I am an advocate for ICT in schools. I use it as much as possible: for preparing and presenting my lessons, for keeping records about my student’s progress and for giving my students the skills and knowledge that the curriculum requires them to know, but most importantly for giving them the opportunity to use technology in new and innovative ways so that our educational system can move from the traditional based learning classroom to the digital age, which is also argued by Horn, 2012:
...moving away from seat-time requirements toward a competency-based system, in which students advance upon mastery of a concept or skill, is critical to unleashing the full power of digital learning.
I am coming to the closing stages of this Master’s degree and I have done a lot of reflecting about what this means to me: relief, a sense of achievement and new found knowledge and skills. I recently looked at my first assignment of the course and found this entry I wrote on my blog nearly four years ago about my then school:
I recently had an interesting conversation with another parent while our children were at swimming. I love these types of conversations on neutral ground as the conversation is generally candid and insightful. I believe that many parents feel they cannot be as open and honest as they would like to be when they are discussing matters on the school premises.
Our school has recently introduced 1:1 iPad classrooms for our year 5 and 6 classes and this was the basis for our discussion. I fully support this new arrangement and harnessing technology and learning how to use it effectively means that we can all be 21st century learners - after all we are teaching our children the skills for jobs that have not even been created yet! The parent disagreed with me and her argument was that the internet and technology should not be relied upon for information gathering and problem solving and that encyclopaedias and other traditional forms of research were what she wanted her children to learn. Basically what was good enough for her is good enough for her children.
While I listened to her argument I couldn't help but think: How can we justify holding children back from learning? Why would we? What purpose would this serve?
I have asked myself these questions over the last four years and I assume I will be asking my leadership team and parents again as our school attempts, for the second time, to introduce a 1:1 BYOD program to my current school.
I have enjoyed engaging with others in the forums of other subjects, however, I found this forum a bit intimidating. I followed the posts of my fellow students and I was in awe of their knowledge in the area of ICT in terms of implementation, curriculum and leadership. I knew that my responses were nowhere near as insightful as theirs were and I had very little interaction from them when I commented on their posts, or posted new threads of my own. So I played it safe and became an observer. I did learn a lot from my fellow students, from the assignments and the readings, and I know that I still have a lot to learn, but as ICT is my passion I can see this learning continuing for quite some time.
I am an advocate for ICT in schools. I use it as much as possible: for preparing and presenting my lessons, for keeping records about my student’s progress and for giving my students the skills and knowledge that the curriculum requires them to know, but most importantly for giving them the opportunity to use technology in new and innovative ways so that our educational system can move from the traditional based learning classroom to the digital age, which is also argued by Horn, 2012:
...moving away from seat-time requirements toward a competency-based system, in which students advance upon mastery of a concept or skill, is critical to unleashing the full power of digital learning.
I am coming to the closing stages of this Master’s degree and I have done a lot of reflecting about what this means to me: relief, a sense of achievement and new found knowledge and skills. I recently looked at my first assignment of the course and found this entry I wrote on my blog nearly four years ago about my then school:
I recently had an interesting conversation with another parent while our children were at swimming. I love these types of conversations on neutral ground as the conversation is generally candid and insightful. I believe that many parents feel they cannot be as open and honest as they would like to be when they are discussing matters on the school premises.
Our school has recently introduced 1:1 iPad classrooms for our year 5 and 6 classes and this was the basis for our discussion. I fully support this new arrangement and harnessing technology and learning how to use it effectively means that we can all be 21st century learners - after all we are teaching our children the skills for jobs that have not even been created yet! The parent disagreed with me and her argument was that the internet and technology should not be relied upon for information gathering and problem solving and that encyclopaedias and other traditional forms of research were what she wanted her children to learn. Basically what was good enough for her is good enough for her children.
While I listened to her argument I couldn't help but think: How can we justify holding children back from learning? Why would we? What purpose would this serve?
I have asked myself these questions over the last four years and I assume I will be asking my leadership team and parents again as our school attempts, for the second time, to introduce a 1:1 BYOD program to my current school.
I have enjoyed engaging with others in the forums of other subjects, however, I found this forum a bit intimidating. I followed the posts of my fellow students and I was in awe of their knowledge in the area of ICT in terms of implementation, curriculum and leadership. I knew that my responses were nowhere near as insightful as theirs were and I had very little interaction from them when I commented on their posts, or posted new threads of my own. So I played it safe and became an observer. I did learn a lot from my fellow students, from the assignments and the readings, and I know that I still have a lot to learn, but as ICT is my passion I can see this learning continuing for quite some time.
Horn, Michael B. As Digital Learning Draws New Learners, Transformation will Occur. Retrieved on 2/06/2016 from http://educationnext.org/as-digital-learning-draws-new-users-transformation-will-occur/